The 5 things that pissed me off last week #16

I am going to do this one a little different. Sure, I had pretty much the worst week in my life because of one circumstance. So to change it up a little, I am going to list 5 things that were good about last week...

#5 - Marvel made it official that they will be making an Avengers movie. The X-Men movie worked out, why can't an Avengers movie? I am so excited for this, even though it is 3 years away.


#4 - An association here in town had a community shred day which I took full advantage of. The lady who I purchased the business from kept way more files and paper than she needed to. Slowly, I had been making stacks of paper that needed to be shredded. Unfortunately, the stack reacher around 4 feet over four feet tall. My shredder would take nearly a full day to shred all of that. The UPS store shreds by the pound, but it would have been around $100. Luckily, I found out about the shred day and I got it all shredded for the reasonable price of $25. Big weight off my shoulder.


#3 - I got to spend a lot of time with my family this weekend. From barbecues to movies, I got to see a lot of them this weekend and it was a good time from start to finish.


#2 - Manchester United won their league this past weekend. Sports fans will agree - there is nothing more thrilling or exciting than having your team win a championship. It is a memory you will keep forever.


#1 - Despite the fact that it appears now that Jessica and I will never have a child, I know that we will be fine because we have each other. We are best friends. We enjoy each other's company and don't get bored of each other. After being together over 10 years and married over 5, we are still in love as we ever were. A friend commented not to long ago when he saw us holding hands. His comment, "Wow, you guys still hold hands and cuddle like that?" Somehow, we will be fine...

Post #700

Alright, another hundred posts down the drain. I was starting to fade there, but I feel like I have my mojo back. I had a great weekend and it didn't come soon enough. After a very stressful and emotional week, I was ready to let loose this weekend.

It started off by seeing Iron Man again Saturday morning with my parents and Jessica's parents. They both wanted to see it and since it was so good the first time, Jess and I didn't mind seeing it again. Thankfully, all loved it and couldn't stop talking about it later. That always makes you feel good when you recommend something, anything, and people agree with you. I am convinced that when this movie comes out on Bluray, I am going to need a bigger subwoofer. I kid honey, I kid.....

Saturday night was the aformentioned Cinco de Mayo party. Perhaps because I was looking to drown my sorrows in alcohol after the past week, perhaps it was because I was just looking to let loose and have fun, but I decided to do shots of tequila last night. Jessica mentioned that it was 8 shots, but in fact, it was 9. I like to count my shots. Anyways, I had a good time as I am always a happy, laughing drunk. Thankfully, this morning there was no hangover. Not even a slight headache. Thank goodness...

Probably not typical of most people after a night of drinking, I woke up a little before 6 this morning to watch a soccer game. Well, it just wasn't any soccer game. It was the final game of the English Premier League season. Manchester was tied for first place with rival Chelsea. However, due to a superior goal differential, all Manchester had to do was match whatever Chelsea was doing as they were playing at the exact same time. But, as long as Manchester won, there was nothing Chelsea could do except to literally win their match by about 20 goals. Thankfully, it went the way I wanted and Manchester United were crowned champions of the league. Now just one game remains in their season - May 21st in Moscow to determine the best team in all of Europe, the Champions league final against funnily enough, Chelsea again. I can't wait. But first, some pictures from today...





Finally, this afternoon, we had a mother's day barbecue at our house for Mother's Day. Everything turned out great including the shrimp which I barbecued for the first time ever. So overall, this weekend was a complete 180 from what the week was. I needed it. Now back to the grind of the work week. Have a good week everyone...

Too Drunk

Manuel's not a big drinker. He doesn't really like the taste of alcohol. He'll only drink alcohol if he can shoot it, presumably because it's fast and the taste isn't with him as long. Probably once or twice a year, Manuel will get drunk. Tonight was one of those nights. We have a monthly family dinner with my dad's extended family who, because his immediate family are all pieces of crap, we've adopted as our immediate family. The theme was Mexican food, in honor of that white holiday Cinco de Mayo. Naturally, there was tequila. And Manuel had some. Ok, not some - 8 shots. He ate and had some sodas too, but he's feeling pretty damn drunk right now, which is why I'm writing this and not him. It was important to him to keep up the post-a-day-in-May, so I hope you will accept this as today's post, even if it's from me and not him. I'm sure he'll be back tomorrow.

Thank you....

Just a quick post tonight to make sure I still post every day in May. I just wanted to take this moment to thank you for all your support in this very tough time for us. Really, that is all that needs to be said in a time like this. Happier posts to follow....

An explanation

Ok, I guess you deserve an explanation for yesterday's post. Well, I guess I don't really need to say and I could keep it to myself, but hey, that is what a blog is for right. Then at least you can see where I am coming from in the future.

Yesterday, Jessica and I found out the artificial insemination we were trying for the 3rd time failed. We have been trying to have a child for 4 whole years now and have obviously had zero luck. A few months ago, we met with a fertility specialist and decided on artificial insemination. The insurance would pay(well, 50% or so) for 3 cycles. Well, this was our last try and we have not been successful. We could do it again and pay for it, but the studies show that after 3 attempts at it, it probably won't be happening. So yesterday we came to the conclusion and final realization that we will be without a child in our lifetime. No celebration of Mother's or Father's Day in our house. No child to teach how to do things. No child to look at and say, "That child is a part of us and we created him/her." No child to kick a soccer ball with and everything else that comes with a child of your own. We see crackheads everywhere having kids. People who can't even care for themselves having kids. People who DON'T want kids having kids. And yet, a couple like us, a couple who wants nothing more than to have a kid and raise him/her in a good home can not and will not have one. Jessica will never get to experience the job of being pregnant. I will never get the opportunity to talk to her belly. And it is just not fair. Screw it all.....

For your information

Life sucks and is unfair. So much for the power of hope and prayer...

That is all....

A Favor

I didn't want to spam your page or attempt to advertaise via comments, so I figured I'd ask you for a favor. I am attempting to get a lil writing project off the ground via Myspace. I am trying to offer my services as a male advice columnist to any females out there who are curious about anything having to do with men. I believe I offer a good perspective and have been told I give good advice.

The whole point of this is in order to write these articles I need questions from ladies. If you would like examples of my work please visit my page and check my blog entries that are titles the "Voice of Reason." That is my initial advice column answering two questions for two close friends of mine. If you would like, feel free to send me a question via Myspace. That way I can earn the opportunity to broaden my writing talents to more than just my lil circle. And prove to you that I am not just screwing off with this venture. All I ask is one comment or bulletin post or blog sending any or all of your friends in the Myspace world my way. That way I can bring in more eyes for my work. Just one time and I will hopefully take it from there.

I understand if you want to pass on doing this for me. I just figured I would give it a shot and hope to strengthen my abilities as a writer and learn more about people and females. Thank you for your time and take care.

http://www.myspace.com/mrvideoguy

Rich B.

Marvel's Upcoming Plans

By now, you have probably read my review of Iron Man and maybe even seen it yourself. I know at least some of you have based on all the other Iron Man reviews I have read in blog world. The movie came out great and made around 200 million worldwide in the first weekend. Naturally, the next step is to talk sequels. Not only did they announce sequel plans, but they planned out their direction for the next few years. Here is what Marvel announced as their plans for the next few years. You will notice that the new Punisher movie coming out this year and the solo Wolverine movie coming out next year are not on the list because they are not Marvel produced movies. Iron Man was the first movie mainly produced by Marvel where they had free reign with the direction of the character. So here ya go, this is what I have to look forward to...

- April 2010 - Iron Man 2




















- June 2010 - Thor




















- May 2011 - Captain America





















- July 2011 - The Avengers





















So, no self financed films in 2009, but once 2010 hits, it is an Avengers extravaganza! I myself, couldn't be more thrilled. This gives me some great films to look forward to and hopefully, these all come to fruition. They are also hoping to do an Ant-Man film somewhere in this schedule, but nothing is set yet. So now, the debate and speculation over who should play these roles begins. There are names being thrown around already, but nothing is set yet. These are exciting times for a comic nerd like me!!!

Why Soccer?

Another recollection post and I figured I would talk about one of the most important things in my life - soccer. How did I become so big into soccer when I live in the United States, a country that pretty much shuns the sport despite the the best efforts of many fans in this country? And you know it is rare because I know my fellow blogger Rhys has referred to me on his blog as the Yank who actually likes soccer. My love for soccer started many years ago and I really owe it all to my dad.

I started playing soccer on a club team at the young age of six. Why soccer and not T Ball like all the other kids. Well, as I mentioned before, this is because of my father. He signed me up and it is mainly because he had played all his life. In fact, he was apparently pretty good when he was young and played in some of the finest stadiums in Mexico as a sort of semi-pro. He continued to play when he came to the U.S. and it just seemed like a natural progression for me to continue in his footsteps.

I joined a team with my classmates from elementary school and my dad helped as the assistant coach. By the second year, he was coach as he clearly knew more and he would be my club team coach for the rest of my life. It is here that I made some of my longest friendships and this is partially because not only did I get along with my teammates, my parents got along with their parents. Get togethers were plentiful because everyone got along so well. Friendships were built that lasted many years.

There was not a year that I didn't play soccer as a kid and I never got tired of it. In high school, it was just an understood thing that I would be playing soccer. The high school soccer years were made up of good and bad times, but it was fun to be part of two teams. It was really around high school that my true love of soccer came about. This is the part that separated me from the large majority of my soccer playing friends. This is when I learned to appreciate actually watching soccer. You always (well, usually) like a sport when you are playing it, but soccer here is one of the sports that is not quiet understood and appreciated even by those who play it. Hence, the majority of my friends who I played with didn't really like to watch professional soccer. A major event changed me forever.

We were lucky enough to have the World Cup here in the United States in 1994. The biggest spectacle in the sport and it was in our own backyard. Before this, soccer was fun, but I wasn't a big fan of the international game. When the World Cup came, it was Summer time and in the right time zone. I got to watch all the games at times that were convenient. Not only did I get to watch all the games, but I was lucky enough to even go to a game. It wasn't a huge game. No major super powers were playing. It was just Russia vs Cameroon. But the atmosphere was something that I will never forget. It was something that truly opened my eyes to soccer and probably is the turning point in my love soccer now that I look back. Here I was in a stadium and it wasn't filled with the usual stadium idiots who are too drunk to even pay attention. No, here I was sitting down and to my left were a group of Russians who probably made the journey from Russia, chanting their cheers in unison. On my right, a group of people from Cameroon in their full native garb, banging their drums and dancing in the stands even when their team was getting blown out. This is what soccer was about. This was an atmosphere that is just not found anywhere else. Since then, I have been a fan and the 4 years in between World Cup tournaments is hell for me.

After high school, I still managed to play a little soccer here and there. I played in an adult league which was fun, but memorable for me because I was now on the same team as my father. He wasn't my coach, but my teammate. His good years had passed him by due to knee surgery, but at least once every game, you could see the brilliance he used to have. It was an honor to play with him. I played a little indoor soccer a few years ago, but that has really been it for me. The last two times I have played have been in alumni games for my high school and although they have been fun, they have been less than memorable for me due to my weight game since I used to play consistently.

And now, my love for soccer is stronger than ever. I try to catch every big soccer game I can. Hell, I pay for two channels that are strictly soccer channels. How lucky am I? This has helped me follow my favorite team better, Manchester United. Hard to follow the team when you can never see their games. Now I barely miss a game of theirs. Manchester United got me involved in the biggest sports bed I had ever made in my life. I have talked about it before, but I am happy to report that I won my bet with my friend Rich last week and I am now $75 richer thanks to Manchester! How much do I love Manchester? Here is the flag outside my house...



And oh yeah, here is the new license plate I got last week...



Am I a fan? Yeah, I guess you could say that...

Manuel on Movies #2

No recollection story today, but I have another planned for tomorrow. For now, I really need to catch up on my movie reviews. I have seen 7 movies since my last review post so I have a lot to catch up on all the way up to my viewing of Iron Man today.

Zodiac - This is the movie based on the real life hunt for the Zodiac Killer. I don't know how much was truthful and how much was made up for the story, but it was a pretty good film. There is really not any action in it like typical Hollywood serial killer movies, but then again, I expected that. If it was based on a real life killer who was never captured, why would I expect their to be chase scenes and the like? The story mainly focuses on the people who became so obsessed with capturing this criminal. The movie is almost devastatingly slow, but if you can appreciate a slow movie that relies mainly on character build up and conversations, then I would give this a try. Be warned, it is nearly three hours long. 7 out of 10





The Mist - This is horror/supernatural movie based on the Stephen King story. The movie starts out like a 50s B-horror movie. It's not too bad. I was enjoying it. Then the movie becomes so much more and deals with the horrors that the human race brings on themselves. The end of the movie is one of the most difficult endings I have ever seen. It is at this point that the movie becomes memorable and one that is difficult to shake. 7.5 out of 10









Sicko - This is the newest Michael Moore film. In this film, he deals with the horrors of the health care industry on the United States. It is a very interesting movie even though I know, like all of his movies, it has his biased viewpoint. Regardless, I know some of it had to be true and it is just sickening. A pretty good watch as long as you don't hate Michael Moore(which I know some of my fellow bloggers do! :-)) 7 out of 10











Reno 911: Miami - Silly. I watched this because I think the Reno 911 show on tv is fairly amusing and I was hoping the movie would at least give me a couple of laughs. Well, I was right. It gave me a couple of chuckles. But 2 or 3 chuckles in a 90 minute period is not a very good ratio for a comedy. Oh well... 2.5 out of 10












Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - I really didn't care too much for the first Fantastic Four movie, but I had heard from everyone who had seen it that the second one was better. They were right, it was better, but not considerably. The problem I have with this series is it is too family friendly and happy go lucky. It borders on slap stick like. I just think for a super hero movie, it never feels like anything is ever very serious. 6 out of 10









Beowulf - This is the "animated" movie based on the old story. I say animated because the characters are made to look as real as possible and many of the characters are made to look exactly like the actors who supply voices. Overall, the film looks spectacular and you sometimes forget you are watching an animated movie. This is what drives this movie as the story is only so-so. The story is good enough, but probably not enough to hold up to multiple viewings once the wow factor of the animations wears off. 6.5 out of 10








Iron Man - Awesome! Really, if this is the way my Summer movie season is going to go, it is going to be spectacular. This one will be hard to top. This may be my favorite comic movie to date and that is saying a lot. The main reason for the greatness of this movie? Robert Downey Jr. completely nailed the character of Tony Stark. It was almost as if her was born to play this role because it is his movie. The story itself is great and has the right mixture of action/humor/etc. As a comic movie, everything just felt perfect. If you do go see it, be sure wait and see the scene after the credits roll. Classic mark out moment for comic fans!!! 9.5 out of 10.

One of the cutest things I have ever seen...

Small post today because I want to give everyone a chance to read the last two posts. This video is one of the cutest things I have ever seen. If you like animals, you'll agree...



This guy is still out there because my in laws visited Santa Barbara last week and drove right past him. I would love to see him in person.

Don't forget to read the last two posts if you already haven't to see the exciting things coming this month.

How I ended up where I am.....

Yeah, so this continues my recollection stories for my countdown to 30. For those of you who are family or know me really well, this will be old news to you. I have my own Medical Billing business. But nobody goes grows up saying, "I want to bill medical insurance companies when I grow up!" So how did I get here?

Well, growing up, my family wanted me to become a doctor and really, that is what I thought I wanted to. I was super smart and when you are smart like that, that is just one of those jobs people expect you to do. I don't know when I realized deep down that I didn't want to become a doctor, but I know it was around the end of my elementary school days. I never mentioned it to family though as I wanted to please them. It was also around this time that I had some great teachers and I started thinking about becoming a teacher myself.

Going into Junior High and High School, I still pretended to want to become a doctor when I really knew by now that a teacher job was what I really wanted. As I was now very much into sports, I decided that maybe I would stick to the doctor path by being a physical therapist with a goal of a sports team doctor. For a while, near the end of High School, I actually became excited about this proposition. It also didn't help that I was now hinting at becoming a teacher and it was not only shot down by my family, but by the teachers I idolized.

So, I started college with the goal of physical therapist. I just wasn't into it though and that coupled with my sudden freedom and dramatically more difficult classes left me in academic probation in my first year. I tried to turn it around and after the first quarter of my second year, I was still on academic probation. This is when my life turned around. I met with a counselor at school and discussed my options and future. I mentioned the teacher dream and she convinced me to go for it. I was hesitant at first, but then jumped at the opportunity once I thought about it more and more. I changed my major to a wonderful major called American Studies which analyzed the American Culture. I was able to take some amazing classes in this major that I will remember forever and while I took this, I took my prerequisites for a teaching career. A couple of quarters later, I made the Dean's List. Quite a turn around. I graduated happy and with a goal in site.

I then took the year program to become an elementary school teacher which was thrilling and easy at the same time. After one year of training to get my credential, I was now teaching 4th grade in the same district where I grew up. I started my first year full of confidence and wanting to have the same kind of fun classes I had as a kid...

But I only lasted three years. In those three years, I had some wonderful students. The thing is though, my ideal of what teaching was had completely changed since I was a kid mostly because of a change in the way kids were in that period. When I was a kid, kid's were scared to death when a teacher threatened to call home. When I taught, most kids just laughed and shrugged their shoulders when I threatened to call home. I just had no support and that included from administration. I knew after one my students stabbed me with his pencil in my hand and he only was suspended 2 days that I had to get out. I actually ended up teaching one more year after that incident, but that is mostly because that incident happened at the end of the 2nd year and it was too late to change my mind for the following year. I was miserable the 3rd year and it didn't help that the class was mostly a class of rugrats.

I wanted out, but I didn't know what to do. This is about the time Jessica and I bought our first house and I fell in love with the home buying process. I decided after much deliberation to leave teaching at the end of the year and try my hand at real estate. And why not? Real Estate was BOOMING in town! I made many friends while teaching and had some amazing students, but I happily left and was excited to start my new job.

So I started my real estate career and almost right away, the real estate market took a giant dive downwards. I became depressed as deal after deal fell through. I couldn't believe my luck or lack of it as everything seemed to go against me. It didn't help that Sacramento was now being called the 3rd worst real estate market in the entire United States. I made a little money, but after a year, I had to get out. I LOVED the job, but I couldn't stay in a job where I wasn't making money. In fact, the market has only become worse since then.

I applied for some State positions and scored extremely well on their entrance tests, but I was either too well qualified for entry positions(which I was okay with taking) or they just weren't hiring. To make some money on the side while I waited for a job to apppear, I started working the Medical Billing business with my mother in law. And then a funny thing happened; I actually liked it. I liked all the math I got to do. I liked having to make things balance at the end. I liked the freedom of working from home. Perhaps as a gift from above for my bad luck, a colleague of my mother in law decided she was ready to retire and wanted to sell her business. I jumped at the opportunity and as of yesterday, I have now had the business one full year. And you know what? I love it! Yeah, I deal with stupid people and I get frustrated at times, but I love it. Let's hope the ride lasts...

Happy May

Yup, it is May already and I am going to do something special this month and I absolutely promise I will do it, even if it kills me - I am going to blog every day this month in honor of a special occassion. What is it? I officially go from my
20s to my 30s the 29th of this month. Yup, I will be turning the big 3-0. I am going to try to do some recollection stories, reflection stories, and of course, the usual nonsense posts that I usually do. So here it is, my official countdown to 30. Am I bummed? Naw, age is just a number. I just spent the last few hours capping fools on Grand Theft Auto IV online. I would hardly call myself an adult simply because the calendar says so!

Top 5 Tuesday #19

Soon, it will be one my favorite times of the year - Summer movie season!!! I would say that the Summer movie season officially kicks off this weekend so it is time for my Summer movie preview. I'll start by listing what I think will be the main money getters this Summer and then do my top 5 anticipated ones for me. First, the list of big movies this Summer(These are not all movies I want to see, just a list of everything I think will make some dough).

Iron Man - May 2
Speed Racer - May 9
What Happens in Vegas - May 9
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - May 16th
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - May 22
Sex and the City - May 30
The Strangers - May 30
Kung Fu Panda - June 6
You Don't Mess with the Zohan - June 6
The Incredible Hulk - June 13
The Happening - June 13
Get Smart - June 20
The Love Guru - June 20
Wall E - June 27
Wanted - June 27
Hancock - July 2
Hellboy II - July 11
The Dark Knight - July 18
Mamma Mia - July 18
X Files 2 - July 25
Step Brothers - July 25
The Mummy 3 - August 1
Pineapple Express - August 8
Tropic Thunder - August 15


Quite a list and certainly, some of these will end up bombing at the box office for one reason or another. So which of these 5 am I most anticipating?

Honorable Mention - Tropic Thunder - This sounds like a pretty funny movie. A bunch of well known actors are recruited to make the most expensive war movie ever made. Once they get to the jungle, the become involved in some war and have ot become soldiers themselves. Starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, and Robert Downey, this sounds like it will be fun. The main villain in the film is being kept under wraps and is said that his whole role will be uncredited, but rumors are that his name rhymes with Bomb Bruise.




#5 - The Mummy 3 - It has been a while since the last Mummy movie with Brendan Fraser and it may be too late to bring in the people who liked the other 2, but I liked the other 2 enough to want to go see this movie. The other 2 were just fun adventure movies in the Indiana Jones style so I hope this movie doesn't become a letdown. No trailer yet...




#4 - The Happening - The next M. Night Shymalan movie. Truthfully, I don't know what it is even about yet, but I go watch all his movies and have liked every one so far. That sells it for me.






#3 - Iron Man - I am a big comic guy so this already has me in the seat. But the way Robert Downey Jr. seems to totally nail down the character of Tony Stark is what has me excited. Hopefully, it has a good story to go along with the cool effects.




#2 - Hancock - Will Smith blockbuster released in the Summer. Sounds like a winner to me! The first time I saw the trailer I cracked up and I have been excited for this movie ever since. It looks like it will be really funny!




#1 - Indiana Jones - This is an absolute no brainer. This movie release anticipation ranks right up there with the release of Episode 1 in '99. This is Indiana freakin' Jones! How can you NOT be excited about this?!?! Hopefully, this does not disappoint because I am going in with REALLY high hopes.




What on this list above are you going to see? Any movies you don't recognize you want to know what they are about? Talk to me!

Wordless Wednesday #24

A Great Weekend

I had a great weekend and I feel pretty rejuvenated for the upcoming week. Yes, that means plenty of posts hopefully this coming week. The week started off great with news that Jessica got a new job. As some of you know, but most of you don't, she is/was a nurse working in a ob/gyn office. She liked it, but there were a lot problems. One of the main problems was that it was an office made up entirely of women and that just lead to too much drama. There was one nurse in particular who ALWAYS was a source of headaches as she was always looking to start a fight and got bitchy over the smallest things. Plus, she was lazy as hell and complained when she had to do any work what so ever. Secondly, there is a new doctor there that just seemed to have it out for her - looking over everything Jessica did just to find a mistake and pulling the "I'm a doctor and she should always do what I say no matter what," card. Third, since leaving the hospital setting to go to this job where she was basically just doing education and not doing hands on experience that she loved, she has been somewhat bored. So, for the past few weeks, she has been working one day a week at a pain clinic and last week, they asked her if she would work full time. Friday, they did an informal interview over the phone and like that, she is gone. She gave her one week notice on Friday afternoon. She is so happy and I am delighted for her to get out of that drama zone. It all works out to because since it is the same company, everything transfers over and the only thing different is where she goes now. She is excited because she feels like she is a real nurse again. Exciting stuff!

Saturday started out stressful as Manchester was down the entire game in their league game only to pull out a tie with a couple of minutes left. They should have won, but I will take a tie and now they are up 3 points with 3 games to play. The team right below them awaits them next weekend so they could wrap up the league if they win. They also have their big Champions League game on Wednesday - you know, the tournament I now have a bet on that is up to $75. Big game!

Saturday night, I won my first poker tournament of the year. I haven't been too happy with the way I have been playing and made a conscious effort to change my style of play. Well, it worked. To not only play well, but win after I made some changes felt good.

I have a pretty busy week as I am covering for my parter while she is on vacation for a week, but I get to do it from home which is nice. As it is fairly slow for me at the moment with my work, I should be able to get a lot of stuff done. I need to start with this new laptop and installing my old programs on it. I have yet to install the camera's programs on it so that is why haven't posted any pictures in a couple of weeks. Hopefully, I can participate in this week's scavenger hunt. I have been way behind in those. Have a good week everybody.

Top Five Tuesday #18

Yes, my first Top Five list since forever! I rule!I've been sitting on this one for a while. Don't read if you are easily offended because, well, it is kind of offensive and mean. But you know, sometimes you just have to have a little fun and my mischievous side won out on this one.

Top 5 things that would be fun and evil to do(but I would never do for fear of going to hell!)

#5 - When a bible thumper knocks on the door, say, sorry, and tell them I worship Satan before I close the door. I get tired of the bible thumpers that knock on my door. I am religious man myself and I respect what they do, but to me, they are just another salesman.

#4 - Put an "I Owe You" coupon in the collection plate at church. Again, another religious based one. Trust me, I am religious, but I like to have fun too!

#3 - Pull up to a car stranded on the side of the road and ask the person if they need some help. When they say yes, drive off and yell, "I'm really sorry to hear that," and drive off. Bonus points if the person is elderly.

#2 - When you are at a stop sign or first in line at a red light, honk at any pedestrian as they cross the street right in front of you. Bonus points again for the elderly or getting a kid to fall off his bike.

#1 - Sell girl scout cookies in front of the gym or a Weight Watchers meeting. This is the ultimate in mean. It is even meaner for someone overweight like me to come up with it. But hey, it is all in fun. I actually came up with this one when I was at the gym one day and I was working out on the machine facing the street. A kid walked by eating candy. A post was born.

Anything evil I missed out on that should be added to the list?

Random bits of information

A little bit of this and that. This week was an exciting week for soccer and it keeps getting better. As a little background, in Europe, there is a championship every year to determine the best club team in the continent in soccer. It is kind of complicated, but each country in Europe gets a certain number of teams that can enter the tournament. They have group stages, knockout stages, etc. A few months ago, Rich and I made a bet on who's team would make it farther in the tournament. My team is of course, Manchester United. His team is Liverpool. We started out as a $20 bet. Pretty simple and standard. Our teams kept advancing and last week was the quarterfinals. Our bet had increased all the way up to $50. This past week, both of our teams advanced to the semi finals. Our bet has now increased to $75 and if we should both advance to the finals, we have a $100 bet on the game. After all the trash talking we have done over the last couple of months, it is amazing that we are only a couple of weeks away from possibly both being the finals. What a game that would end up being to watch with each other!


One of the funniest things I had ever heard happened at a party last weekend. I have a friend, PJ, who is nearly deaf. I have another friend, Corey, who likes to drink a lot. Last weekend at a party, Corey introduced PJ to another party goer. He said in his drunken slur, "This is my friend PJ. YOU HAVE TO TALK REALLY LOUD!!!" Funniest, inappropriate thing I had heard in a while.

I am away right now in the Bay Area for Jessica's mom's 50th birthday. Should be a blast tomorrow!

I bought a new laptop yesterday. For once, I bought an electronic gadget and I wasn't super excited for it. Truth is my old laptop has had issues with the power cord and plugging it in for a long time now. I have sent it away before, but it is doing the same shit again and I am done pouring money into it. It is pretty "sharp" looking so I will get some pictures of it probably on Monday when I return.

Have a good weekend everyone!

The 5 Things That Pissed Me Off Last Week #15

I was pretty angry last week, and yet, I still think I had a pretty good week. Go figure!

#5 - Last week I was able to blog a total of ONE time, a pretty short one at that. Additionally, I didn't get to visit any other blogs. For a few days last week, I looked my blogging for the year and thought that it might be time to shut the blog down. It has been going strong for three years. In the end though, I couldn't pull the trigger and I am back blogging.

#4 - Friday morning, I woke up with a really sore back. I could barely move. Thankfully, I was able to walk it off by midday.

#3 - Sunday morning, Manchester had the opportunity to put a good foothold on their lead in the Premiership. Instead, they ended up tying 2-2 to a bad team. Now, they only have a three point lead with a small amount of games left. This includes a big game against Arsenal on Sunday. It is going to go down to the wire...

#2 - Insurance companies suck! In case you don't know what I do, I own a medical billing business. I bill insurance companies. But almost daily, I have to get on the phone with an insurance company and fix something they screwed up or neglected to tell me. They look for any reason to deny a claim. Medicare, who I am convinced is the Devil, is the absolute worst out of all of them. They are absolute bastards! A couple of months ago, they denied tons of claims I sent in because they out of the blue instituted a new policy(which I found out was only made known on their web site) which required the therapist's 9 digit zip code instead of the normal 5 digit zip code. Again, the only way I would have found this out is if I had read it on their web site. Horrible...

#1 - Directv is killing me lately. I have been a customer for years and years, but over the last 2 months, they have been driving me mad. They keep screwing up my bill, forgetting to tell me things, promising things that never happen, etc, etc. I have spent so many hours on the phone correcting things they have messed up on and I am done with it. Sure, they keep compensating me with credits and free stuff, but I just want to not have to call them anymore. I am sick of it. Stop wasting my time!

Respecting a Legend

I don't really watch wrestling anymore, but I kind of keep track of what is going on. Sunday night was the final match for a legend in the "sport." Ric Flair, 59 years old, finally retied from pro wrestling. I didn't get to see his last match as I wasn't going to pay the money for the PPV, but I did get to watch his farewell speech and tribute from Monday night on YouTube this morning. It was a very emotional event. He is easily in the top 2 of most important people in wrestling history along with Hulk Hogan. I was never a huge Flair fan, but I respected him for his longetivity and importance to wrestling. I am sure he will still show up on tv in some capacity on the WWE, but as far as the ring goes, he is done. 26 years of wrestling on his 59 year old body had to have taken a toll. Good luck Ric and congratulations.